On the Emergence of Teacher Subjectivity in Interdisciplinary Humanities Education

• In Event: Decolonizing Neoliberal Education: Subjectivities, Politics, and Questions of Belonging

Abstract

This paper explores the autobiographical and theoretical significance of new teachers’ experiences of a course on curriculum development for interdisciplinary humanities education. The longitudinal study follows eight preservice secondary teachers from their experience of the course to their work as teachers in urban middle and high schools. Through literary arts and curriculum theory, the course provides beginning teachers an understanding of curriculum as an experience with academic, subjective, and social dimensions, helping them approach curriculum development through humanities frameworks and practices. Through analysis of interviews with study participants, we examine how the course informs the lives of these new teachers in neoliberal educational culture and how teacher subjectivity emerges from creative and agonistic relationships with theory, practice, and educational purpose.

Authors

• Brian Casemore, The George Washington University

• Rachel Talbert, Teachers College, Columbia University